Houser brothers make MediaGuardian 100 2011

Rockstar co-founders Dan and Sam Houser have made this year's Top 100 MediaGuardian 2011 hitlist, the publication announced last night.

The pair were on the list at 27, one spot higher than their debut last year at 28. Their inclusion this year was mostly due to the release of "the biggest and most influential video game release of the year," LA Noire.

This is despite Rockstar being in a publisher-only role for the game, with Team Bondi developing the game. The inclusion of the brothers in last year's list came after the release of a game which was developed by the company's San Diego studio, Red Dead Redemption.

Dan and Sam's listing also came just a few months after signing new, "long-term employment" contracts at Take Two with fellow senior dev Leslie Benzies, keeping the duo under the company for another couple of years yet.

The pair founded Rockstar along with three others in 1998, but only fully went mainstream after the release of Grand Theft Auto III. You can probably figure out the rest from there. A new installment in the series is heavily thought to be in development, but has not been formally announced as yet. It also has two other titles currently in development: Max Payne 3 in Vancouver and PS3 exclusive Agent in Edinburgh at North.

Any representation for games is great. Big props Dan, Sam and Rockstar as a whole.